The American bison is one of several big game animals in Alaska. The bison was transplanted to Alaska from Montana in 1928, after becoming almost extinct in America. Twenty of these animals were delivered to an area around Delta Junction and by 1985 the population had grown to approximately 700.

The bison is a spectacular animal in size, measuring six feet at the shoulders, almost ten feet long and weighing over a ton. The head and front quarters are the largest part of the body, making this section look out of proportion to the hind quarters, which are smaller.

The bison sheds its coat in the spring of the year, after winter is over. Then, in the fall, it grows its winter coat, which is a rich, dark brown color. The coat changes color during the winter and by spring is a lighter color. Bison bulls have large, heavy horns that curve upward. Cows’ horns are lighter and not as large.

Calves are born anytime from May to August and at first have a brownish red coat. At ten weeks old, this brownish red coat starts to darken and about five weeks later, turns to the dark brown color. They are very active almost immediately after birth, being able to run and kick their hind legs up in the air about three hours after birth. They also begin grazing at an early age – about six days old. They will stay with their mother, following her until the next spring, when they are about a year old, before they venture out on their own.

These animals are natural grazing animals, but in Alaska, their food is only found along rivers and areas where fires have burnt old vegetation growth and created fresh foliage. They eat various grasses, also silverberry, willow and ground birch. Since Alaskan winters are extremely severe, it can be hard for the bison to survive. Their thick layers of hair and plenty of stored fat are an advantage to them in surviving the cold winds and temperatures. In fact, strong winter winds tend to benefit the bison, as the winds will blow the snow, preventing it from accumulating and becoming too deep. The healthy bison usually survives the winters.

They migrate to a winter range in the northwest around Farewell Lake, where there are many small rivers and ponds with vegetation available for them to eat. They are able to smell food beneath deep snow and they use their huge bodies to push the snow away to get to the food.

Bison hunts have to be controlled to prevent the population from overburdening the limited range areas. Hunting bison is a challenge, as stalking them is difficult; and bringing them down also is quite a feat. They are the hardest of all Alaska’s big game to bring down. Their meat tastes much like beef and is delicious to eat.

Bears and wolves are predators of bison calves, but usually do not have much luck, as the adult bison will fight to protect the calves. All predators will leave adult bison alone, because of their size, which intimidates and their large horns, which they use to fight with, and can easily kill another animal. They are second only to the black bear for viciousness towards any threatening creature.

Approximately sixty million bison roamed the Great Plains from Mexico to Canada and north into Alaska up until the nineteen century. Then came the insurgence of settlers crossing the United States. They killed thousands of bison mainly for their hides. Before this, the Plains Indians depended on bison for their food and hides. The Indians used the hides to make their clothes, their tents, etc. The bison had a great economical value for the Indians.

Alaska is proud of this big game animal and provides conservation to preserve their herds of bison, with some living on ranches and others in protected areas.

Being a professional video game tester is a dream job. Most gamers would love the chance to be able to play great video games and get paid for it. Unfortunately though, most gamers think that paid video game testing is too far out of reach and will remain a dream forever. Well luckily, it’s not a �dream� and anybody can be a paid video game tester with the right amount of experience and guidance.

The following tips should help you get started with a career in professional video game testing.

Tip 1: Don’t Wait For Jobs to Find You, Get Out There and Find Them.
Video game tester jobs are not going to fall from the sky, so you can’t expect to find them with a few glances at the Sunday newspaper. Therefore, instead of just sitting around and waiting, be proactive and actually chase those high paying testing jobs.

Make a beeline straight toward the game developers and present your case, no matter how poor or excellent it might be. Let them know who you are, what you do (game tester), and why you would make a great addition to their team/project.

It’s important to remember that developers aren’t going to hire you on the spot; so, don’t let rejection get you down. They have lots of video game testers applying for projects and jobs, which means they can literally be as picky as they want to be. With that being said, be as confident as you can and be sure to let them know of all your gaming accomplishments and deeds. They should know about what games you play frequently, what consoles you own, what communities you are apart of, and any websites/blogs you own or help operate. No matter what the gaming accomplishment, big or small, it will help with landing you a job.

Tip 2: Don’t Think “Hobby with Pay”, Think “Career With Benefits!”
You have to keep in mind that developers pay video game testers as part of a job. They are not paying testers to merely enjoy video games at their own expense. Therefore, when you land a testing job, don’t simply play it to have fun; play it like you are earning a paycheck. Does that mean you can’t have any fun? No; it simply means you shouldn’t make “fun” your top priority while testing video games.

If you take each and every testing job seriously and give it your all, you should have a much more successful game testing career.

Tip 3: Know What To Expect
The biggest part of being a professional video game tester is knowing the golden rule; which is “You are paid to test games, not to play them.” There may be a fine line between the two, but any real game tester will tell you that the difference is definitely there.

The subtle difference between testing and playing is, well, work. A game tester will have to do actual work, such as filing reports & filling out questionnaires; as opposed to a regular game player, who will just relax and play the game at a leisurely pace. Admittedly, the work isn’t back breaking, but it is work nonetheless.

The questionnaires are the easier part of game testing, as all the video game tester has to do is answer some general questions about the game and give his/her honest opinion. The reports, on the other hand, are a bit more difficult to do. These reports need to be filed on every bug/glitch that the tester comes across, and they have to be remarkably accurate. In each report, the video game tester has to describe what happened, where it happened, and how it happened. With this detailed information in hand, the developers & programmers will then fix the problem and find out why it happened in the first place. Every video game goes through this basic cycle, which is precisely why video game testers are so vital to the gaming industry.

As you can see, there really isn’t all that much work involved with video game testing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a serious profession.

Tip 4: Build up a Network of Reliable Contacts.
Networking is a crucial part of professional video game testing. Although it is quite possible to have a prosperous career without a reliable network, having one just makes things easier.

A network of contacts can actually help your career in many different ways. The biggest thing it can do is give you heads up about new job openings and testing assignments that have been announced. Also, some of your contacts can even act as valuable references when applying for testing jobs. And, as if those two things weren’t enough, your network can give you the inside scoop about what’s going on behind closed doors.

Much like a video game tester job, a reliable network is not going to just jump out at you. Therefore, you will have to build it up all on your own. The best way to do that is by getting to know the industry and the people who work in it. Anyone that spends time around video games (professionally, of course) can be included in your network; game testers, developers, programmers, concept artists, art designers, graphics designers, technical support specialists, audio specialists, etc. Basically, if they know video games and work with video games, you want them in your network.

Tip 5: Don’t Give Up. Keep Trying!
The unfortunate fact is that you are not going to land a video game tester job whenever you want one. As a matter of fact, it may be weeks or even months before you land your first testing job. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have what it takes; it just means you have to keep trying & giving it your best. Not many newcomers start off at the top of their game, which means you likely won’t either. Hence, just give it time. After a few months and a few jobs, you should be able to get your footing and begin advancing in your career as a professional video game tester.

I have talked about this topic before, but it was in brief. This time I will provide more details about how to describe the requirement and how to shortlist the things that you will need to ask to the developers for deciding on the team and also to convert your game idea into reality, via iPad Game Development or iPhone Game Development. If you are new, I work in a well known Game Development company Morpheous and I share my experience with development and also with clients over here, so my experience can be useful to you when you make any development decisions and invest into one.

When you have an idea, you make sure you write it down, this will enable you to go through the raw idea in future if you lose your way in between, as especially when it is about objective of the game and story line. Once you write down your initial thoughts, you can then search some existing games and see if any of them matches what you want to get developed or if not see if it partially matches, this will provide you information on how they have executed the idea and also how the story line plays out. This will also give you an idea of overall representation of the game. iPad Game Development and iPhone Game Development can be an easy venture if you are quite clear of what you want and also have things in written format. Ensuring your objective and features of the game pass to developer on right note is very important, this will make sure that the journey of development will be smooth and also game will be delivered exactly as you want it to be.

To convert your idea into reality, describing idea will not be only thing that will be important but also what you want as graphics in the game is also as much important as the idea itself. iPad Game Development and iPhone Game Development heavily depend on the graphics and processing of the device. You need to make sure which type of graphics your game will consist of, 2D/3D? And also what type, like would it be like cartoons or are we talking about some serious gaming graphics? This is very important as making changes during the development or designing phase can cost you some money.

I will cover more information in my next article; I hope this initial info will be enough for you to understand the overall structure of requirement presentation for iPhone Game Development and iPad Game Development.
I have talked about this topic before, but it was in brief. This time I will provide more details about how to describe the requirement and how to shortlist the things that you will need to ask to the developers for deciding on the team and also to convert your game idea into reality, via iPad Game Development or iPhone Game Development. If you are new, I work in a well known Game Development company Morpheous and I share my experience with development and also with clients over here, so my experience can be useful to you when you make any development decisions and invest into one.

When you have an idea, you make sure you write it down, this will enable you to go through the raw idea in future if you lose your way in between, as especially when it is about objective of the game and story line. Once you write down your initial thoughts, you can then search some existing games and see if any of them matches what you want to get developed or if not see if it partially matches, this will provide you information on how they have executed the idea and also how the story line plays out. This will also give you an idea of overall representation of the game. iPad Game Development and iPhone Game Development can be an easy venture if you are quite clear of what you want and also have things in written format. Ensuring your objective and features of the game pass to developer on right note is very important, this will make sure that the journey of development will be smooth and also game will be delivered exactly as you want it to be.

To convert your idea into reality, describing idea will not be only thing that will be important but also what you want as graphics in the game is also as much important as the idea itself. iPad Game Development and iPhone Game Development heavily depend on the graphics and processing of the device. You need to make sure which type of graphics your game will consist of, 2D/3D? And also what type, like would it be like cartoons or are we talking about some serious gaming graphics? This is very important as making changes during the development or designing phase can cost you some money.

I will cover more information in my next article; I hope this initial info will be enough for you to understand the overall structure of requirement presentation for iPhone Game Development and iPad Game Development.

Renting video games online is the single best way to try video games before you buy. Rent video game online services keep costs down: With many game prices starting at $30 and going as high as $50 and even higher, paying such high prices for video games that might be less than what you expected can be just too big a gamble. Even though gamers can view “walkthroughs” screen shots online, and other online game samples are available to take a look at how a game works, there is nothing like actual hands on playing to find out whether it’s something you will love, like or hate.

Just like movie rentals, video games are available to rent from many or most movie rental companies, along with some game stores and online as well. The big problem with renting form a local store, though, is that they rarely have a good selection, and it can be very expensive.

As a result, being able to rent video game online is making a big splash. Video game rental is the ultimate in convenience and cost savings. Video game rental means you don’t have to buy a game for $30 or more, but you can try games before buying to make sure it’s a game you want to keep. Just like services like NetFlix or Blockbuster’s movie service through the mail, game rental companies are springing up too.

For teens and older gamers, trying before buying can keep from spending hard-earned money on games that turn out to be duds. Gamers can try nearly every game that’s on the market. And many video game rental companies let you keep the game you want to buy at a discount.

As a parent, online video game rental can be a godsend. Even young gamers now have access to game systems like GameCube. If you have no idea about content of games or which games were any good, video game rental can be a great way to go. Renting games first, you are able to view games before allowing your children to play them, and find out if they are too frightening, or violent or otherwise not appropriate.

Even using the rating system set out by the gaming industry doesn’t always help. One mom explained it this way: “We had one game called Super Smash Brothers that was rated E-10+ meaning better for older kids over ten. But we felt it was fine -just cartoon violence. But another game rated E-10+, the X-Men game, was so violent and bloody that if we hadn’t been able to rent it first we would have been stuck with a game we were not going to let our son watch!” She saved about $50 in game purchasing costs by not having to buy!

The companies that let you rent video game online have incredible selections of games, and have them for every platform on the market – handheld game systems like the Game Boy or Nintendo DS, through GameCube, and the high end too like Xbox, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. You have many games to choose from. It an be much cheaper than renting from the local store because you won’t pay late fees or shipping; just send back the games when you are through (and you can send back the game that are really terrible right away!) But best of all, many game services offer credits that add up as you continue your subscription. These credits can be applied toward buying games. When you find a game you like, you can usually just keep it and they will send you the box and inserts, with free shipping. In just one sample of purchase pricing, a game that retails for $50 could be purchased for $27 after applying credits and discounts – a really great deal all around!

For gamers that have multiple game systems, such as console as well as handheld, it helps to be able to choose games for short rental periods when going on vacation for example. Most of the time, games are available for all game platforms. For the games you want to rent, you can add them to a “queue” or list, and when one is returned, the next one is sent out. A money savings and less hassle too.

Rent video game online service is a great way to try out games before spending the ever-higher prices to buy them, and can even let you purchase a game at a discount. Take a free trial today – save cash and play all the games you’ve always wanted to try!

With every new video game purchase, you will find a humble paper booklet included inside the game case. This is commonly known as the video game instruction book. Some video game instructions are just a few pages of basic info, while others are thick, full colour books, containing maps or lots of crucial background information–without which you will have a very frustrating experience as you attempt to play the game. Sometimes whole areas of a game may not be obvious to you without the video game instructions to provide an overview of the action.

As anyone who has ever tried to sell their used game on eBay knows, video game instructions are a must if you want to fetch top dollar. Particularly if the game is in question is at all rare or collectible. So what to do if you have lost or mangled your video game instructions? Not to worry, there are sources online where original replacement video game instructions can be purchased. The expense of replacing the booklet can often be very slight compared to the increased value of the complete game.

Even if the game is not especially rare or valuable, some gamers are very particular about having a complete collection in pristine condition. If they find themselves without the video game instructions for one of the games in their collection, they will go to great lengths to track down a suitable copy of the missing game manual so that they can rest easy, knowing that their collection lacks for nothing.

While many video game instructions can be found online in the form of PDF scans or gamer written walkthroughs, true collectors scorn such things, knowing that nothing but the original booklet will satisfy their completes souls.

Even when playing games with extensive help features built in, you can still benefit from having a physical copy of the video game instructions. The instruction book allows you to refer to various game facts and charts without having to pause the action and click through multiple levels of help menu options to find the particular piece of info you need. This can save lots of time and aggravation in the long run.

Some businesses which rent out games to customers have found ways to condense the essential information necessary to play the game into a single page and affix it to the rental case. This eliminates the problem of replacing the video game instructions which inevitably go missing or get ruined by sticky fingers and voracious pets. However, if you purchase one of these former rental games, you will probably want to invest in the proper display case and video game instructions.

In conclusion, it should be clear by now that video game instructions are not a mere afterthought, but an important component in your successful and enjoyable gaming experience. So treat them with the respect they deserve!